'The Walking Dead' watered down what should have been a bigger moment in the season 7 finale

The season seven finale of "The Walking Dead" made one big deviation from the comics with the way Sasha's storyline played out, but there was an even bigger change from the comics Sunday night people haven't been discussing.

Towards the end of the nearly 90-minute episode, Negan enters Alexandria and lines up Rick and his son Carl. He's furious Rick went behind his back to try and make a deal with another group to take him down. Negan's answer is to kill Rick's son right in front of him — something Rick doesn't seem to really bat an eye over.

Negan prepares to hit Carl with his bat, Lucille. Rick doesn't even try to do anything to stop it. Gene Page/AMC

Nanoseconds before Negan brings the bat crashing down on Carl, King Ezekiel and his tiger Shiva come to the rescue, thwarting Negan's plans and sending his team off running.

Shiva comes to save the day. AMC

There are some other mini groups held hostage separately, but that's not how the scene played out at all in the comics. Sunday's version of events was much tamer than what we see when Negan arrives at Alexandria in the graphic series.

How it goes down in the comics

In issue #113, Negan returns to Alexandria after Rick's group attempts to kill him while his group is heading home. In response, Negan recreates a familiar scene that upset show viewers: the lineup that audiences saw in the season six finale and season seven premiere.

Remember the lineup from the season six finale? We could have seen something like this again. Gene Page/AMC

The lineup isn't anywhere near as big as what we saw the first time around, but it is more than two people. Negan lines up four people — Rick, Holly (who Sasha took over for in the TV show), Heath, and another man from Alexandria.

Could TV viewers have handled a second lineup? I'd love to know if there were originally plans for a full second lineup that were ultimately scrapped after the season seven premiere backlash. Image Comics/Skybound

Just like last time, Negan proceeds to do the "eeny, meeny, miney, mo" children's rhyme to select who he'll kill.

As you can see from the lineup, Carl is noticeable missing. He wasn't in the lineup at all, but Negan wanted him there after he took Negan's beloved bat Lucille. Unlike the TV show, Carl never winds up in the lineup and is never at risk for being killed.

While TV show Negan has a great deal of respect for Carl, comic Negan starts to lose his patience with the kid and wants him in the lineup as well. Image Comics/Skybound

In the comics, the Alexandrians are more defiant all around. One of them yells out that Negan's a psycho. Rick also takes some swings at Negan, tosses him to the ground, and even spits at him. He really tries to go at him.

The rest plays out somewhat similarly, with Paul, the Kingdom, and the tiger Shiva surprising the Saviors with an attack.

Regardless, creating a second lineup would have made the season seven finale feel very similar to the season six finale, which undoubtedly upset viewers. While series producers haven't spoken out about why a bigger lineup wasn't shown on Sunday's season seven finale, it's worth noting that some of the people in the second lineup aren't currently on the show.

Here's a look at that lineup again from the comics.

There's a bit more at stake in the comics. Image Comics/Skybound

Heath hasn't been seen on the show since season seven, episode six. The actor has recently been starring on Fox's "24: Legacy" and can be seen in "Kong: Skull Island." Holly was a character killed off quickly in the show. Sasha, who isn't in the comics, takes over parts of Holly's storyline on the show but was already held captive by Negan and couldn't be in the lineup the second time around.

That would just leave Rick and a character of little significance to the show, which isn't as exciting. However, there are plenty of other survivors the show could have used in a second lineup including Rosita, Tara, and Father Gabriel.

A few other characters could have easily been added to the lineup. What has Father Gabriel even been up to the past few episodes? Gene Page/AMC

Though Heath and Holly's absence may be one reason we didn't see a larger lineup, the entire scene in the season seven finale was clearly watered down from the original comic scene and it may have been done so partially at the expense of viewer satisfaction.

By lining up only Rick and Carl, the show was able to simultaneously satisfy comic fans who may have been expecting a second lineup while delivering a moment for show watchers which simply felt like Negan punishing Rick for betraying their overall partnership. Though Negan referenced the brutal deaths of Abraham and Glenn, by making the moment about Rick and Carl, it didn't feel like a duplicate of the controversial season seven opener.

The scene on the right felt less like a lineup, but for fans who were looking for some sort of lineup, the scene also could have been interpreted as such. Gene Page/AMC, composite by Kirsten Acuna/INSIDER

At the end of the day, AMC doesn't want its biggest show causing major fan backlash two season finales in a row. While "The Walking Dead" still delivers strong numbers for cable — each episode pulls in over 10 million viewers weekly— a further dip wouldn't be great. The season seven finale ratings released Tuesday were a five-year finale low for the show. That was with the show playing it safe. Imagine if the show showed a full second lineup. Imagine if Negan then went through his "eeny, meeny, miney, mo" chant again. You can practically hear the groans of fans over seeing it all before.